The vanilloid receptor 1 (VR1) is the molecular target of capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot peppers. Julius et al. reported the molecular cloning of VR1 (Caterina et al., 1997). VR1 is a non-selective cation channel which is activated or sensitized by a series of different stimuli including capsaicin and resiniferatoxin (exogenous activators), heat & acid stimulation and products of lipid bilayer metabolism, anandamide (Premkumar et al., 2000, Szabo et al., 2000, Gauldie et al., 2001, Olah et al., 2001) and lipoxygenase metabolites (Hwang et al., 2000). VR1 is highly expressed in primary sensory neurons (Caterina et al., 1997) in rats, mice and humans (Onozawa et al., 2000, Mezey et al., 2000, Helliwell et al., 1998, Cortright et al., 2001). These sensory neurons innervate many visceral organs including the dermis, bones, bladder, gastrointestinal tract and lungs; VR1 is also expressed in other neuronal and non-neuronal tissues including but not limited to, CNS nuclei, kidney, stomach and T-cells (Nozawa et al., 2001, Yiangou et al., 2001, Birder et al., 2001). Presumably expression in these various cells and organs may contribute to their basic properties such as cellular signaling and cell division.
Prior to the molecular cloning of VR1, experimentation with capsaicin indicated the presence of a capsaicin sensitive receptor, which could increase the activity of sensory neurons in humans, rats and mice (Holzer, 1991; Dray, 1992, Szallasi and Blumberg 1996, 1999). The results of acute activation by capsaicin in humans was pain at injection site and in other species increased behavioral sensitivity to sensory stimuli (Szallasi and Blumberg, 1999). Capsaicin application to the skin in humans causes a painful reaction characterized not only by the perception of heat and pain at the site of administration but also by a wider area of hyperalgesia and allodynia, two characteristic symptoms of the human condition of neuropathic pain (Holzer, 1991). Taken together, it seems likely that increased activity of VR1 plays a significant role in the establishment and maintenance of pain conditions. Topical or intradermal injection of capsaicin has also been shown to produce localized vasodilation and edema production (Szallasi and Blumberg 1999, Singh et al., 2001). This evidence indicates that capsaicin through it's activation of VR1 can regulate afferent and efferent function of sensory nerves. Sensory nerve involvement in diseases could therefore be modified by molecules which effect the function of the vanilloid receptor to increase or decrease the activity of sensory nerves.
VR1 gene knockout mice have been shown to have reduced sensory sensitivity to thermal and acid stimuli (Caterina et al., 2000)). This supports the concept that VR1 contributes not only to generation of pain responses (i.e. via thermal, acid or capsaicin stimuli) but also to the maintenance of basal activity of sensory nerves. This evidence agrees with studies demonstrating capsaicin sensitive nerve involvement in disease. Primary sensory nerves in humans and other species can be made inactive by continued capsaicin stimulation. This paradigm causes receptor activation induced desensitization of the primary sensory nerve—such reduction in sensory nerve activity in vivo makes subjects less sensitive to subsequent painful stimuli. In this regard both capsaicin and resinferatoxin (exogenous activators of VR1), produce desensitization and they have been used for many proof of concept studies in in vivo models of disease (Holzer, 1991, Dray 1992, Szallasi and Blumberg 1999).
VR1 agonists or antagonists have use as analgesics for the treatment of pain of various genesis or aetiology, for example acute, inflammatory and neuropathic pain, dental pain and headache, particularly vascular headache such as migraine, cluster headache and mixed vascular syndromes as well as non-vascular, tension headache. They are also useful as anti-inflammatory agents for the treatment of inflammatory diseases or conditions, for example the treatment of arthritis and rheumatic diseases, osteoarthritis, inflammatory bowel disorders, inflammatory eye disorders (e.g. uvetis), inflammatory or unstable bladder disorders (e.g. cystitis and urinary incontinence), psoriasis and skin complaints with inflammatory components, as well as other chronic inflammatory conditions. They are, in particular, useful in the treatment of inflammatory pain and associated hyperalgesia and allodynia. They are also useful in the treatment of neuropathic pain and associated hyperalgesia and allodynia, e.g. trigeminal or herpetic neuralgia, diabetic neuropathy pain, causalgia, sympathetically maintained pain and deafferentation syndromes such as brachial plexus avulsion. They are also indicated for the use in the prophylactic or curative treatment of asthma, of epithelial tissue damage or dysfunction, e.g. spontaneous lesions, of herpes simplex, and in the control of disturbances of visceral motility at respiratory, genitourinary, gastrointestinal or vascular e.g. for treating wounds, burns, allergic skin reactions, pruritis and vitiligo, for the prophylactic or curative treatment of gastrointestinal disorders such as gastric ulceration, duodenal ulcers, inflammatory bowel disease and diarrhea, gastric lesions induced by necrotising agents, for example ethanol or chemotherapeutic agents, hair growth, for the treatment of vasomotor or allergic rhinitis and for the treatment of bronchial disorders or bladder disorders, such as bladder hyper-reflexia.